He helped raise more than £655,000 from 2007 to 2011 and was supposed to take a small percentage as his commission, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

But instead he swindled the charities, which also included the Wirral’s Clatterbridge Cancer Research Trust and Cerebral Palsy Care For Children, out of an estimated £213,906.83. Polak – who was once the youngest person to address a Conservative party conference – was jailed last July for 45 months.

A “proceeds of crime” hearing this week was supposed to recover the funds but instead heard that his only assets were a car and a second-hand computer and printer, worth just £1,620.

Father-of-three Polak had already had his house repossessed.

Judge Denis Watson QC, said Polak had stolen a “breathtaking figure”, which he largely spent on holidays, including luxury cruises.

The judge added: “The harm to public confidence is immense. Giving to public causes will suffer immensely because of this.”

He ordered Polak to pay back £1,620 within 28 days or face another four weeks behind bars.

At his sentencing last July, the court heard investigators were unable to work out exactly how much Polak had made as he did his bookkeeping on the back of envelopes.

Prosecutor James Rae said he had banked enough for his mortgage and car repayments but otherwise “lived out of the bucket” on other people’s cash.

Mr Rae added: “The public were being duped into putting money into a bucket which the defendant should have passed on. But he had no intention of doing so.” He said the people collecting on Polak’s behalf were used “unwittingly as the tools of his dishonesty”.

Adam Gersch, defending, said the case had had a “devastating” effect on Polak, of Childwall, Merseyside.

He added: “He hails from a community where he has spent his life making a substantial positive contribution. He has a good name. That has been lost.”

Polak was the “darling” of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative party in 1976 when he addressed the conference at the age of 17. A year later, his record was beaten by the now Foreign Secretary William Hague, then aged 16.